Lockdown drills in Wales

[ThanksForYourHelp]

My husband and I are U.S. citizens, and we are fleeing the gun culture here. He has just accepted a position at Swansea University, and I’m attempting to wrap my head around the secondary school options in Wales. Our daughter is fourteen years old, and she’ll start school in Swansea next fall. I have a vague impression that the state secondary schools in Swansea are oversubscribed, so I haven’t been looking at them very hard; I’ve been putting more effort into what independent secondary schools have to offer us.

However, I was just trying to compile a list of state schools (so I don’t miss anything), and I saw that the Welsh government has recently issued directives for schools to implement lockdown drills—which is the chief manifestation of U.S. gun culture we’re trying to get away from.

My questions: Are all state schools in Swansea implementing lockdown drills? Are independent schools implementing them as well? If you live in Swansea and have personal experience with what’s really happening in this regard, I appreciate that you’re taking the time to reply. Thank you.

I don't know anything about lock down drills, but we simply don't have gun culture here like in the US.

A small number of criminals have guns.

Farmers and people who use guns for sport and hunting have guns, but they have to get a special licence and it's nothing like the kinds of guns you can get in America.

I know one person who's got a gun licence. He had men-in-black types visit him at home before he got the licence approved! I've never seen it.

Most people in the UK will have never seen a live gun.

I'm not in Wales, but my primary school has started having lockdown drills. They're not just for active shooter situations, which are extremely unlikely anywhere in the UK. We talked about situations like parents fighting in the playground (sadly a real possibility) or a major police incident close to the school. It makes sense to know what to do. With primary children, we made it a game. In secondary schools I imagine they could sensibly discuss the possible need for a lockdown without scaring children.

I don’t know any specifics about Swansea schools, but I would suggest that the lockdown drills are very, very much a precautionary measure. There hasn’t been a school shooting in the UK since 1996, at which point UK gun laws were made much stricter. Obviously doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen ever again, but it certainly isn’t a bing to the extent it is in the US.

Find out what it actually means to have lockdown drills - is a once a year practice of ‘sometimes there is a danger inside and we need to evacuate, sometimes there is a danger outside and this is how we protect ourselves indoors’ such a terrible thing? I imagine for most schools it is a very minor detail, you might find it helpful to ask particular schools how it is handled in reality.

I've seen this mooted in the press in the last year or so, I believe as a prep for poss terrorist attacks. I don't know of any school actually doing them in real life though. And I can't see why Swansea would be partic at risk?

Many schools do this in prep for terrorism.

This sort of incident has not happened in the UK, or if it has it is very rare.

Read about gun licencing in the UK.

Remember gusn are everywhere in the world, you will not be able to totally eliminate the risk but South Wales is pretty close and you should do what you can (like moving) and then cease to worry.

I know of various schools that have had them for various reasons. My ds's school had one after a body (suicide) was discovered in woods behind the school. They had to keep all the children indoors and the blinds shut whilst the police dealt with the incident. We don't have the US gun culture, nothing like it. Our only school shooting was Dunblane in 1996.

Most schools I know have some form of lock down procedure (in case there is a 'fierce dog' in the grounds - primary age children !)

I would expect my child to never experience a real lock down in their whole school career 3yrs-18yrs. We just don't have the same gun crime / access to guns as in the USA.

I work in a secondary in Wales and we had our first lockdown drill the week before breaking up for Christmas. Guns were mentioned, instead the example given to the children was when an aggressive dog got into the school recently and everyone had to stay safe in the classrooms until the police came to remove it.

I'm comforted by the responses I'm seeing. Here in the U.S., "lockdown drill" is code for active shooter drill, and the trend is to make them as realistic as possible. (I could start ranting now, but I'll restrain myself.)

I'm waiting for schools to start up again after the winter break, and I'll certainly be asking these hard questions. In the meantime, thanks for reassuring me that we're moving to a saner country.

Lockdowns are not new DD has been doing them at an independent school in west Berks for the last 10 years. As other people have said that it is not just about gun crime.

Not had a school shooting since Dunblane in 96. We toughened up on gun laws and this seems to have worked.

Ah no Help our one was a bell ringing and the children taken into classrooms and the doors locked. That was it.

We have had them in offices I work in before. Mainly involved getting away from windows.

Friends who teach have said it happens fairly regular. But you wouldnt know. Just involves keeping the kids in doors and away from windows.

Could be something like someone dodgey hanging around or a phone call etc. Not really a gun thing. More a take extra caution thing.

Lockdown procedures at secondary school level are used to rehearse what to do if all children need to remain inside or in a safe space if completing an outdoor activity - it's not just for the very unlikely situation of a shooter coming into site. So don't worry too much. For example, it could be that there has been a fire at a farm or industrial estate several miles away, where the school building is definitely not in danger, but police advise children to be kept indoors until environmental impact has been assessed.

I'm about 10 miles from Swansea and never heard of lockdown drills! If they are doing them then as PP say it's probably for other reasons than active shooters. We don't have the same issues with guns here. It's so much safer than the USA by the sounds of it.

So I can expect for there NOT to be at least two armed security guards on the campus of any secondary school in Wales? (That's mandatory at Florida's state schools now. Oops, I'm starting to rant....)

Schools in Kent all have lockdown policy

Errrrrr...no. 😀 I'm not saying our schools are perfect, far from it, but gun crime is not a concern.

There was a report of a gun man in a small town in Cornwall England. The schools were put on lockdown within minutes. There must have been some plan in place. I found it quite reassuring as my DGC were in there.

My school used to do lockdown practice in the 90s as we were very close to Broadmoor. It was always badged as something less scary than potential escaped prisoner though.

Lockdown drills are more widespread now for a few reasons- potential terrorist threat (which is as real, possibly more so, in the US as it is here) and there have been a lot of bomb hoaxes in recent years too. The approach is sensible and precautionary and doesn't generally scare the children.

Worrying about active shooter scenarios in Swansea compared to the US is frankly laughable though (that's meant to be helpful, not rude!). There was one school shooting in the UK 20+ years ago and the response to that was massive. This is a very sensible country in respect of gun laws where access and use is extremely carefully controlled and monitored.

Hi OP. I live and teach in Swansea (secondary teacher) and we have lockdown drills in the same way as we have fire drills. Both are done as a precaution and I’ve only every had them as drills. Feel free to inbox me with any questions about state or private schools in Swansea.

Also in South Wales and mine have had any lockdown drill practice. Also, we have a local ‘super school’ and there’s no security guards on site. The Receptionist is quite terrifying though

A form of lockdown was used in the school by daughter teaches in recently, a noxious chemical incident occurred nearby and the school implemented a lockdown.

Swansea resident here. None of my DC or my DP’s DC in schools have had lockdown drills, but as others have said, it’s more likely to be something similar to a fire drill type thing (ie this is what we do if for example something is on fire nearby and we can’t leave the premises). There is no gun culture in Swansea. The first gun I’ve seen my whole 33 year life is my DPs shotgun (farm boy) and you’ve got to jump through such strict hoops to get a licence, keep it locked up etc. Schools are generally lovely around these parts, even the ‘rough’ ones (I lived next to one and the kids and staff were lovely). No security (and no need for it!) beyond maybe a scary receptionist . Good luck with the move!

So I can expect for there NOT to be at least two armed security guards on the campus of any secondary school in Wales?

I haven't heard of a single secondary in Wales that has specific security...even the school not far from us that takes in all the troubled children from other schools that are schooled in a secure unit away from the rest of the children.

In fact, you won't find armed security in the UK unless there's an important dignitary nearby (in which case they'll be police or government security services) or at airports during levels of high alert...but again they are government provided rather than just civilians with a gun.

I think lockdown drills are a sensible precaution to get children used to the idea that not all emergencies are to leave calmly via the nearest exit, and that some mean listening to your teacher carefully and doing what they say to stay safe.

When I was in school they literally locked us in because some chimpanzees escaped from the neighbouring zoo! That's more likely around here than an idiot with a gun.